CDs

RIGHT AT HOME: Live at Mount Hooley

Alistair Anderson & NORTHLANDS

A LINDISFARNE GOSPEL

The Alistair Anderson Band

White Meadow Records

The Lindisfarne Gospels, is one of the world’s great cultural and spiritual masterpieces. This remarkable illuminated manuscript was created,“to the glory of God and St Cuthbert”, on Lindisfarne, a tidal island off the coast of Northumberland, between the years AD 715 and 721.
A Lindisfarne Gospel is a personal, musical, response to this amazing work and the island where it was created. Drawing on the roots of Northumbrian music, interweaving musical lines reflect the complex intertwining designs of the Gospels and emotive slow airs evoke the wide-skied landscapes of Lindisfarne.

Islands

“The Northumbrian concertina maestro assembles a gorgeous instrumental evocation of the sounds spirit and people of the north-east of England. .... including the utterly gorgeous Winter Sunlight, complete with the redoubtable Martin Simpson. Riff Reels and Hopscotch, are mesmerising while the wild majestic Farne Islands are the subject of the dreamy mini suite that closes the album in compellingly thoughtful style.” Colin Irwin fRoots

Steel Skies

ALISTAIR ANDERSON & BAND

Music for 5 piece traditional ensemble - contemporary music in the folk tradition

“Anderson’s vision in creating a fully realised new work, drawn from and naturally embedded into the musical traditions of the British Isles, gains even more significance as the years pass ....it is the complete entity that is so impressive and even now the range and balance of Anderson’s melodies take your breath away.” fROOTS 2010

Airplay

Bath International Music Festival commissioned Anderson and jazz trombonist Annie Whitehead to work together exploring the jazz/folk interface. The resulting work – Airplay – was chosen by the Arts Council Contemporary Touring Network to tour the country from Southampton to Shetland. The CD was released on cutting edge jazz label Provocateur.

On Cheviot Hills

Alistair Anderson & The Lindsays

Music for string quartet and concertina inspired by the Cheviot Hills that straddle the border between England and Scotland.
“…. Uplifting, full of spontaneity and without question absorbing …. Highly recommended”
Get Rhythm

Syncopace

“English concertina wizard Alistair Anderson has forged his own brand of crossover music in his new band Syncopace, bringing the craggy tunes of the North East in from the cold to be recycled into a rich counterpoint. ... Anderson has produced a thoroughbred.” The Guardian

The Grand Chain

With The Steel Skies Band and with Will Atkinson • Bob Fox • Joe Hutton • Willy Taylor

Ranges from traditional tracks featuring the shepherds; Will Taylor, Joe Hutton and Will Atkinson, to Anderson’s second extended composition Windy Gyle –

“ fuses the shifting moods of the Border landscape with the changing rhythms of its musical tradition. Both composition and performance radiate light and energy” The Guardian

Concertina Workshop

A dual purpose CD - wonderfull to listen to but also
a tutor for all who wish to learn the 'English' system concertina.

Alistair Anderson with: Tich Richardson, Graham Pirt, Geoff Harris

Still regarded as the leading tutor for the English Concertina this CD and the linked book, which can be downloaded from the Free Reed web site, combines a straightforward listening role with a real insight into the instrument and traditional music.